Moving figures crossed the space. Removing the key, Lane slipped
inside the room and locked the door. Then he tip-toed to the opposite
door.

Thesel and Lorna were now so close that Lane could hear them.

"But I thought I had a date with Dick," protested Lorna. Her face was
red and she stamped her foot.

"See here, kiddo. If you're as thick as that I'll have to put you
wise," answered Thesel, good-humoredly, as he tilted back his
cigarette to blow smoke at the ceiling. "Dick is through with you."

"Oh, _is_ he?" choked Lorna.

"Say, Cap, I heard a noise," suddenly called out Swann, rather
nervously.

There was a moment's silence. Lane, too, had heard a noise, but could
not be sure whether it was inside the building or not.

Swann hurried over to join Thesel. They looked blankly at each other.
The air might have been charged. Both girls showed alarm.

Then Lane, with his hand on the gun in his pocket, strode out to
confront them.

"Oh--h!" gasped Lorna, as if appalled at sight of her brother's face.

"Fellows, I'll have to break up your little party," said Lane, coolly.

Thesel turned ghastly white, while Swann grew livid with rage. He
seemed to expand. His hand went back to his right hip.

When Lane got within six feet of them, Swann drew a small automatic
pistol. But before he could raise it, Lane had leaped into startling
activity. With terrific swing he brought his gun down on Swann's face.
Then as swiftly he turned on Thesel. Swann had hardly hit the floor, a
sodden heap, when Thesel, with bloody visage, reeled and fell like a
log. Lane bent over them, ready to beat either back. But both were
unconscious.

"Daren--for God's sake--don't murder them!" whispered Lorna, hoarsely.

Lane's humanity was in abeyance then, but his self-control did not
desert him.

"You girls must hurry out of here," he ordered.

"Oh, Gail is fainting," cried Lorna.

The little Williams girl was indeed swaying and sinking down. Lane
grasped her and shook her. "Brace up. If you keel over now, you'll be
found out sure.... It's all right. You'll not be hurt. There----"

A heavy thumping on the door by which Lane had entered and a loud
authoritative voice from the hall silenced him.

"Open up here! You're pinched!"

That voice Lane recognized as belonging to Chief of Police Bell. For a
moment, fraught with suspense, Lane was at a loss to know what to do.

"Open up! We've got the place surrounded.... Open up, or we'll s